Harel researches and writes on the impact of computational new media technology on the social and academic development of children and their epistemology.

The site provided web users with a range of "playful learning" activities and projects,[7] publishing the first print magazine for children about the Internet, MaMaMedia: A Kid's Guide to the Net.

[8] Harel founded World Wide Workshop in 2004, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that develops applications for learning with technology that combine game design and online social media experiences for youth to empower them to be inventors and leaders in the global knowledge economy.

[9] Globaloria is a social learning system and educational program of the World Wide Workshop, in which participating students engage in a range of digital activities.

[11] Much of Harel's published work in the 1990s and early 2000s focused on the emergence of what she has termed the "Clickerati Generation" - children born since 1991 who will grow up immersed in new media, and unable to imagine a world without Internet technology.

[12][13] Through the launch of the World Wide Workshop and research on its flagship program Globaloria, Harel has advanced the use of constructionist learning within the MOOC model.